Slightly taking a detour from the usual Asian pop culture I post here and diving into childhood territory. Way before I even returned to my ethnic roots via the Hallyu Wave and J-music scene.
Small spoiler warning by the way for Cobra Kai season 1.
I will admit, I was initially sceptical about this. Why continue the franchise? We've already had The Next Karate Kid with Hilary Swank and The Karate Kid with Jaden Smith that technically wasn't Karate at all and very misleading in the title (and while I've had issues with the whitesplaining in some parts of the original trilogy and ethnic Yoda-ness with regards to Miyagi, it was irksome to see how Jaden's character was treated in his film).
Watching the Cobra Kai trailer however made me reconsider something and it had been such a long time since I dared to go near The Karate Kid films - it gives the original fans an alternative POV and you know what? I thought it was interesting. When you rethink to the opening scenes in Karate Kid 2 where the scene just after the tournament ended and Daniel was the winner, you do realise Johnny Lawrence didn't get enough back story and he had some last minute decent sportsmanship when he said, "You're alright Daniel" when he passed Daniel the trophy. Oh and yes if your Sensei turned psycho because you only came as runner up (reminds me of classic Tiger parenting where if you don't get A or the first spot you simply are a loser) then you would most likely walk out of your dojo for good or go elsewhere to find a better mentor.
In the first film Johnny was like your typical privileged bad boy and a bully who didn't like the new boy in town coming onto his ex-girlfriend. Also was very much someone you would rather avoid confronting - or that would be my case back in my day when it came to (mostly white) boys who enjoyed jeering at everyone who was different. But Cobra Kai gives us some back story and you say don't need it to begin with...but it works rather well as you watch further along. Indeed there are definitely two sides to a story. We got a lot of Daniel POV in The Karate Kid series, so now it's down to Johnny. I think for continuation of an antagonist's background this is ok.
But who is the big bad guy here? There really isn't one between these two. You can be Team Daniel one time then go Team Johnny. I have avoided reading so many threads on Youtube and other blogs because there is a sense of the fans trying to simplify the rivalry and blame one person or the other. Let's just leave it as a male pride/alpha male teen rivalry plus different methods of teaching from different sensei.
It's quite a shocker with how things switched over the past 34 years for Daniel and Johnny. Daniel has become a successful car salesman, owns his own company and has a family. Johnny is struggling to get himself together and living in a shoddier house, binge-drinking. He's barely in contact with his wife and son and is not on good terms with his wealthy stepfather. What happened before he started a family we don't know.
The parallels of past and present really show when you see the generation gap as well. It's quite hilarious. One example being Johnny likes his 80s rock -which is fine since I'm into that too- yet Miguel is into something more modern till he goes on a 80s rock binge on Youtube. How Johnny says the newer generation are seemingly more aggressive behind the computer screen rather than approach someone face to face for a fight. His homophobic and xenophobic attitude made me roll my eyes a bit but it does effectively play well against the new generation's society POV. You see the differences of how time changed from the 80s till now.
There are little references to the first film which makes this tv series a heartwarming viewing. Miyagi is never forgotten and wisely referenced by Daniel when he is visiting his grave but also teaching Johnny's son Robby Miyagi's style of Karate. Even clips from the first film appear as flashbacks.
Here is the Cobra Kai trailer.
I have to say though Ralph Macchio and William Zabka haven't changed as much at their age. Ralph especially and he is a few years older than William. Still waiting for a real fight between Daniel and Johnny. Maybe that will come in season 2. But perhaps the priority is to deal with Kreese now that he is back to tackle the dojo rules that have been altered from the past.
If there is a particular thing that grated me from the series, it's how they cast Kyler (of all the names you picked!). It's funny because when I found out he was Asian American, I had just stumbled across an article on the Asian American Mean Girl character. What timing. The way I see Kyler is a privileged Asian who most likely wanted to hang out with the "cool" white boys because he didn't want to feel left out as the geeky Asian - most likely whitewashed and refuses his Asian side. Then he gets beaten up by Johnny in episode 1 and later on by Miguel in the school canteen. Honestly he deserved it. If he does get a backstory, I really do hope it's justified because it always bothers me how non-white characters in series would just be written in specific ways.
I hope Miguel sorts his mentality out as well. He just lost a lot of hope in winning Sam's heart back. Maybe he'll fight her when she resumes her training and competes in the next tournament. Or maybe she'll end up with Robby who I felt needed more background. How did he get into the tournament without being affiliated? What strings did he pull? Yes there is also the training continuity for a lot of the students. You can't just get into a tournament after only a few weeks of training unless you are some genius of a Stu/Sue. But for the sake of time limit in each episode I suppose the writers had to lead up to the tournament as quickly as possible and suddenly all the Cobra Kai students were progressing in their training. I won't lie, I miss my own Karate training but I was a failed disciple. If all went well I'd have opted for other styles too to make myself strong.
Overall
It seems watching Cobra Kai was going to happen eventually since The Karate Kid was part of my growing up (the first film is a year younger than me). I thought watching the first two episodes of this continuation of The Karate Kid storyline would be painful and not needed. Surprisingly I kept on going. When nostalgia hits you unexpectedly, you tend to dive into it. Karate Kid was a guilty pleasure and inspired me because I rooted for the underdog who was bullied and got a ton of anxiety from even setting foot into school.
Small spoiler warning by the way for Cobra Kai season 1.
I will admit, I was initially sceptical about this. Why continue the franchise? We've already had The Next Karate Kid with Hilary Swank and The Karate Kid with Jaden Smith that technically wasn't Karate at all and very misleading in the title (and while I've had issues with the whitesplaining in some parts of the original trilogy and ethnic Yoda-ness with regards to Miyagi, it was irksome to see how Jaden's character was treated in his film).
Watching the Cobra Kai trailer however made me reconsider something and it had been such a long time since I dared to go near The Karate Kid films - it gives the original fans an alternative POV and you know what? I thought it was interesting. When you rethink to the opening scenes in Karate Kid 2 where the scene just after the tournament ended and Daniel was the winner, you do realise Johnny Lawrence didn't get enough back story and he had some last minute decent sportsmanship when he said, "You're alright Daniel" when he passed Daniel the trophy. Oh and yes if your Sensei turned psycho because you only came as runner up (reminds me of classic Tiger parenting where if you don't get A or the first spot you simply are a loser) then you would most likely walk out of your dojo for good or go elsewhere to find a better mentor.
In the first film Johnny was like your typical privileged bad boy and a bully who didn't like the new boy in town coming onto his ex-girlfriend. Also was very much someone you would rather avoid confronting - or that would be my case back in my day when it came to (mostly white) boys who enjoyed jeering at everyone who was different. But Cobra Kai gives us some back story and you say don't need it to begin with...but it works rather well as you watch further along. Indeed there are definitely two sides to a story. We got a lot of Daniel POV in The Karate Kid series, so now it's down to Johnny. I think for continuation of an antagonist's background this is ok.
But who is the big bad guy here? There really isn't one between these two. You can be Team Daniel one time then go Team Johnny. I have avoided reading so many threads on Youtube and other blogs because there is a sense of the fans trying to simplify the rivalry and blame one person or the other. Let's just leave it as a male pride/alpha male teen rivalry plus different methods of teaching from different sensei.
It's quite a shocker with how things switched over the past 34 years for Daniel and Johnny. Daniel has become a successful car salesman, owns his own company and has a family. Johnny is struggling to get himself together and living in a shoddier house, binge-drinking. He's barely in contact with his wife and son and is not on good terms with his wealthy stepfather. What happened before he started a family we don't know.
The parallels of past and present really show when you see the generation gap as well. It's quite hilarious. One example being Johnny likes his 80s rock -which is fine since I'm into that too- yet Miguel is into something more modern till he goes on a 80s rock binge on Youtube. How Johnny says the newer generation are seemingly more aggressive behind the computer screen rather than approach someone face to face for a fight. His homophobic and xenophobic attitude made me roll my eyes a bit but it does effectively play well against the new generation's society POV. You see the differences of how time changed from the 80s till now.
There are little references to the first film which makes this tv series a heartwarming viewing. Miyagi is never forgotten and wisely referenced by Daniel when he is visiting his grave but also teaching Johnny's son Robby Miyagi's style of Karate. Even clips from the first film appear as flashbacks.
Here is the Cobra Kai trailer.
I have to say though Ralph Macchio and William Zabka haven't changed as much at their age. Ralph especially and he is a few years older than William. Still waiting for a real fight between Daniel and Johnny. Maybe that will come in season 2. But perhaps the priority is to deal with Kreese now that he is back to tackle the dojo rules that have been altered from the past.
If there is a particular thing that grated me from the series, it's how they cast Kyler (of all the names you picked!). It's funny because when I found out he was Asian American, I had just stumbled across an article on the Asian American Mean Girl character. What timing. The way I see Kyler is a privileged Asian who most likely wanted to hang out with the "cool" white boys because he didn't want to feel left out as the geeky Asian - most likely whitewashed and refuses his Asian side. Then he gets beaten up by Johnny in episode 1 and later on by Miguel in the school canteen. Honestly he deserved it. If he does get a backstory, I really do hope it's justified because it always bothers me how non-white characters in series would just be written in specific ways.
I hope Miguel sorts his mentality out as well. He just lost a lot of hope in winning Sam's heart back. Maybe he'll fight her when she resumes her training and competes in the next tournament. Or maybe she'll end up with Robby who I felt needed more background. How did he get into the tournament without being affiliated? What strings did he pull? Yes there is also the training continuity for a lot of the students. You can't just get into a tournament after only a few weeks of training unless you are some genius of a Stu/Sue. But for the sake of time limit in each episode I suppose the writers had to lead up to the tournament as quickly as possible and suddenly all the Cobra Kai students were progressing in their training. I won't lie, I miss my own Karate training but I was a failed disciple. If all went well I'd have opted for other styles too to make myself strong.
Overall
It seems watching Cobra Kai was going to happen eventually since The Karate Kid was part of my growing up (the first film is a year younger than me). I thought watching the first two episodes of this continuation of The Karate Kid storyline would be painful and not needed. Surprisingly I kept on going. When nostalgia hits you unexpectedly, you tend to dive into it. Karate Kid was a guilty pleasure and inspired me because I rooted for the underdog who was bullied and got a ton of anxiety from even setting foot into school.